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Sunday, August 25, 2013

THE FREEDOM THIEF: Interview by Ben McKenna

Good morning! Today I am being interviewed by my main character, Ben McKenna. Since his story won't be out until November, I'll tell you a little about the book. Ben is a thirteen year-old boy living on his grandmother's plantation with his parents and two older brothers. The time is pre-Civil War and the setting is in Kentucky. Ben's best friend is Josiah, a ten year-old crippled slave. Ben hates slavery, and when he learns his father is set to sell Josiah, Ben knows the only way to save him is for him to escape. With a little help from his grandmother, a secret Abolitionist, and some subterfuge of his own, Ben arranges the escape of Josiah and his parents, Bess and Jesse. The rest of the novel focuses on their journey into an unknown world of danger and deceit.

Time to go, see you later!

BEN: Oh, hi, Missus Sadil. Come
on in and set a spell.

MIKKI: Thanks, Ben, I’ll do just
that. By the way, you can call me Mikki.

BEN:Oh, uh, I don’t think I should. Ma says it’s
not respectful to be familiar with people you don’t know very well.

MIKKI: Ben, I think we know each
other very well, so I’m sure your ma wouldn’t mind. I understand you want to
ask me some questions?

BEN:Yeah, I do. But first, I reckon I’ve got some
things to say about this story you threw me into. You sure did come up with
some troublesome imaginaries for me, like that awful tunnel.

I swear I thought we’d never get
out of that place alive. And that swamp? When you made me dive down into all
that dirty water? What in tarnation were you thinking on?

MIKKI: (laughs). Oh, sorry. I’m
not laughing at you, but the look on your face right now is priceless! Ben, you
should know I would never have let the storyline get out of hand. You were
always safe.

BEN: (frowns). Maybe you’re
right. But I didn’t know that at the time, and neither did Josiah, or Bess and
Jesse. Say, what made you make a kid like me take such a risk, any how? You
didn’t even give me a plan for helping Josiah and his parents escape, you just
let me do it on my own. Seems like that weren’t too smart, Missus Mikki.

MIKKI: Whoa, wait just a minute,
young man. I DID intend for you to make a plan for that escape, but you got on
your high horse and said you had to leave that very night. There wasn’t a thing
I could do to change your mind. So, you’re right, you left without a plan. You
even almost forgot to take that old compass. Then you would have been in big
trouble, Mister McKenna!

BEN: (crossly) Well, I don’t see
as how you had to make that Mister Pembrook come so early. Couldn’t you’ve kept
him away on one of them business trips he was so fond of telling about?

MIKKI: Oh, I suppose I could
have. But then the tension wouldn’t have been so high, now would it? And
conflict is the name of the game, right? Besides, I had to test you, to see if
you really were the kid I thought you were.

BEN: (sighing) That’s just what I
mean. I’m a kid. So what’s a kid like me doing something like that…getting
three slaves to escape? How come I couldn’a had some help?

MIKKI: A kid like you? Ben,
you’re just the kind of kid I could do
something like this with. You’re smart, you’re resilient, but most of all, you
have the strength of your convictions concerning slavery. I knew you could
manage that escape all by yourself. You didn’t need anyone to help you.

BEN: That’s something else I
reckon I don’t understand much. How come I don’t believe in slavery when my pa
and ma do, and the boys, too? I mean, Pa is downright strict in trying to make
me into another slave owner when I get older, and Ma keeps saying as how we’d
never be able to run the plantation without slaves. Even Andrew and James
believe slavery is right.

MIKKI:Well, Ben, it’s like this. When your pa moved
the family from Kentucky to New York, you grew up in the schools where you were
taught that slavery is a sin. It’s kind of like you were imprinted at a young
age to believe slavery is wrong. Then when y’all moved back to your
grandmother’s plantation, you brought all those teachings with you, and you
never lost them, no matter what your family said. Of course, having a close
relationship with Grammy, the secret Abolitionist of the family, helped make
your own convictions even stronger.

BEN: I’ve been pondering on something
for some time. How did I come about? Am I just something you imagined up out of
nowhere?

MIKKI: (smiles) Well, no, not
exactly. I kind of “borrowed” you from…well, from someone who was in my life a
long time ago. He was my older brother, and he had very strong opinions of his
own. I remember him sometimes being in trouble with our parents because his
convictions didn’t always agree with theirs. He was a remarkable young man, and
you resemble him in many ways.

BEN: Huh. Do you think he would
of done what I did?

MIKKI: (laughing) Oh, yes, Ben,
he would have done exactly what you did. And with just as much a lack of
planning as you had, too.

BEN: (scowls a bit) Yeah, well,
you know, I must have hurt Ma and Pa some bad, going around all their teachings
and just taking off with Josiah and his parents like that. And Grammy! I might
not ever get to see Grammy again, and I reckon I love her somewhat fierce.

MIKKI: (with a sigh) Yes, I know,
Ben. I’m sorry about that. But someone had to get Josiah and his parents away
from the plantation, and who else was going to do it but you?

BEN: It was an awful long
journey, and lots of scary places we got to. Riding in the bottom of that farm
wagon, hiding in the woods, and then all that time you made us spend in the
Andrews farm! And escaping in the daylight, when all those people saw us! I
just knew we weren’t going to make it.

MIKKI: But you did, didn’t you?
You never let up, Ben, you never gave up or let Josiah or Bess or Jesse give
up. That’s the important part of the story. You started out as a thirteen
year-old boy, and you ended up a fourteen year-old young man. The qualities
that made you come through that long journey from boy to manhood will be with
you forever.

BEN: (nodding slowly) I guess so.
I’ve changed a lot, I know that now. The people along the way, like Charity and
the Jeffersons and Robby…I reckon they all helped to get me growed up, a little
bit here and a little bit there. But every time I thought we were getting
ahead, we got thrown back. That weren’t too nice, Missus Mikki.

MIKKI: ( looking puzzled) Why,
whatever do you mean, Benjamim? Now, surely you didn’t think everything was
going to be smooth as molasses after you left the Jeffersons, did you?

BEN: I reckon not, but riding in
that death coach and being found again by Phineas and his gang was scary, and
then those soldiers at the Union Fort …when I thought they were gonna capture
is, now that was downright worrisome.

MIKKI: Hmm…’downright worrisome’ huh? The
thing is, you worked your way out of both of those situations, just like all
the others you and the slaves encounter on your journey. You didn’t need any
help, you just did what you had to do.

BEN: ( is silent, looking
thoughtful)

MIKKI: You see, I gave you
certain qualities, Ben, but it was up to you to develop them in a way that
would enable you to go from half-way scared little boy to responsible young
man, and you did just that. I admire you, Ben, because no matter how scared you
were, how much you missed your family, or even how frustrated you became as
each situation seemed more and more overpowering, you never gave up. You never
faltered in your belief that you could, and would, get your slave friends to
freedom. That’s why you came alive in this story. It’s your story, Ben, I just happened to be the one to tell it.

BEN: Huh. Well, I thank you for
that. (Smiles shyly) I, uh, I reckon I have one more question.

I would really like to see Charity
again. Are you maybe thinking on that?

MIKKI: (smiles slyly) You know,
that’s a pretty good idea. It’s just that, well, Charity is a long way from
where you ended up. I would have to write a whole new story, now, wouldn’t I?
And that takes a long time. Besides, how do I know what you are going to do
between now and, uh, sometime in the future? On the other hand, I guess it’s possible your journey isn’t over yet. So,
let’s just say…we’ll see, Ben, we’ll see.

MIKKI: (stops as she is walking
out the door, turns around) Now, Ben…you do know about Gabriela, don’t you? The
sixteen year-old girl who is hearing children’s voices telling to find their
killer? You don’t really want me to leave her hanging out there at Dead Man’s
Crossing all by herself, do you? Just so you can see Charity again?

BEN: ( looking chastised…but only
for a moment) No, ma’am, I wouldn’t cotton to that. I know Gabriela will find
the killer, all right. But see, I got some inside information, and I know
you’ve been making some plans about the Civil War, and me, and Union spies, and
Charity, all rolled up in one! I reckon we’ll be seeing each other again,
like…maybe next year. You take care, now, Missus Mikki.

MIKKI: (shaking her head as she
finally leaves) We’ll see, Ben, we’ll see.